VE SS Ute & Monaro VXR S/C

[91964]

Hi all. I’m just starting a new thread carrying on from “Any Ute Owners?” As I’ve added the Monaro to the garage. Not sure if mods can combine the threads in any way?
So this will be my ongoing updates relating to both. Nothing much to add at this point so have some pics to make it worth your visit……

[TheWidget]

Does it feel like it has the 650hp that was advertised? I wonder when you start to get to those power levels, how usable is it on the road? I would assume the acceleration would have to be brief else speed would all too easily become excessive.

[91964]

TheWidget said:

Does it feel like it has the 650hp that was advertised? I wonder when you start to get to those power levels, how usable is it on the road? I would assume the acceleration would have to be brief else speed would all too easily become excessive.

I would say it’s 650 easy. Compared to the Ute at 450 it’s night and day!
Obviously the roads are a bit cold now but you have to be quite careful in second and then third spins if you floor it but controllably. Once in fourth it’s fine but it pulls 130mph in third so that’s a different matter.
The usable power on road use is the fourth or fifth gear stab on the throttle, it just steams away from anything!
It’s quite an experience…

[stu vxr]

Perfect Garage, I am supercharged (Monaro) love the Ute and the Garage!

[91964]

stu vxr said:

Perfect Garage, I am supercharged (Monaro) love the Ute and the Garage!

Fantastic! What setup is yours running and on what base car? I would say (purely from observation) the majority of S/C cars that come up for sale are CV8, not sure if this is a common theme?
I’m a bit new to the whole supercharged thing, I had seen a few come up for sale with various specs but this one I just couldn’t resist! Partly timing financially and then the combination of being black, a low tax VXR, its general condition and the quality of the mods.

[stu vxr]

91964 said:

Fantastic! What setup is yours running and on what base car? I would say (purely from observation) the majority of S/C cars that come up for sale are CV8, not sure if this is a common theme?
I’m a bit new to the whole supercharged thing, I had seen a few come up for sale with various specs but this one I just couldn’t resist! Partly timing financially and then the combination of being black, a low tax VXR, its general condition and the quality of the mods.

Mine is red LS2 VXR, but I am in the later tax bracket, I have same charger and set up as you (done by Monkfish) full wortec with headers APs quick rack, LS7 clutch with remote bleed plus lots more all was done by the fish, owner now for 12 years.

The charger is the best mod I have ever done on any car I have ever owned, it really wakes these cars up so to speak!

[91964]

stu vxr said:

Mine is red LS2 VXR, but I am in the later tax bracket, I have same charger and set up as you (done by Monkfish) full wortec with headers APs quick rack, LS7 clutch with remote bleed plus lots more all was done by the fish, owner now for 12 years.

The charger is the best mod I have ever done on any car I have ever owned, it really wakes these cars up so to speak!

Wow sounds lovely! 12 years is a proper relationship… Were you at Caffine and machine in September? I know my car was there as I’ve seen a pic of it in attendance.

[stu vxr]

91964 said:

Wow sounds lovely! 12 years is a proper relationship… Were you at Caffine and machine in September? I know my car was there as I’ve seen a pic of it in attendance.

No don't get chance to go to many meets, hopefully moving forward I will be able to attend more, I don't drive the Monaro as much as I would like to these days.

Always nice to see people coming back after having a previous one these cars really do get under your skin, yours looks a great purchase.

[TheWidget]

I see the black Monaro is up for sale again - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/294854387580. How come you didn't hang on to it?

[91964]

TheWidget said:

I see the black Monaro is up for sale again - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/294854387580. How come you didn't hang on to it?

If I’m being totally honest it was the first time I had owned a car with that much power. Had several cars around 400bhp but 650 was a big jump!
It was just too much to enjoy I found. It’s a fantastic car and an absolutely stunning example but i just prefer to pedal harder in a slower car.

[SturdyHSV]

That's interesting to hear, my stroked NA build is aiming for 600hp ish, it'll obviously lack the ridiculous low down torque of a supercharged motor so hopefully it won't be too excessive

Was cammed before I got carried away and it felt like another 100 or so wouldn't hurt so fingers crossed!

[TheWidget]

Agreed, I do wonder when power becomes too much of a good thing. Especially when the car lacks AWD and has a loose back end already.

My dream is still to go from stock 350hp to around 450hp, depends on finances over the next couple of years.

[SturdyHSV]

TheWidget said:

Agreed, I do wonder when power becomes too much of a good thing. Especially when the car lacks AWD and has a loose back end already.

Being a child I actually really enjoy the loose rear end, the way the car drives in the winter when the tyres are cold and hard is largely what I'm trying to recreate, just without having to have worn out old tyres

TheWidget said:

My dream is still to go from stock 350hp to around 450hp, depends on finances over the next couple of years.

You could have a very nice torquey bottom end cam and still make 450hp, you'd end up with a really driveable and quick car without having to go crazy on the supporting mods.

If you can do the work yourself it really isn't too expensive and just needs a decent tune afterwards (which can add to the cost a bit...)

I'm always happy to waffle on about cams and things for ages if you want to shoot me a PM, and have vast amounts of pictures and things from when I swapped my cam, it's really not a complicated process

On an unrelated note, I'm a software developer too, and your VHPA software sounds fascinating.

Edited by SturdyHSV on Tuesday 22 March 13:28

[vxr2010]

I was thinking of supercharging at some point , was not sure if i do the monaro or the ute , in the dry i think sounds like a good plan , in the wet , which i generally avoid if i can , then a different story, the ute is fairly lively any way , the fish was saying 600 was the sweet spot , i think if i did sc the ute i would go for the bhp of the standard lsa engine , the monaro probably around the same sort of power , sometimes less is more , as it’s easy to handle in the driving department , where are people going to get a sc fitted ? the tc on both cars is not great , i think the above comment of pedalling less power harder sounds like a good way to look at things

[stu vxr]

vxr2010 said:

I was thinking of supercharging at some point , was not sure if i do the monaro or the ute , in the dry i think sounds like a good plan , in the wet , which i generally avoid if i can , then a different story, the ute is fairly lively any way , the fish was saying 600 was the sweet spot , i think if i did sc the ute i would go for the bhp of the standard lsa engine , the monaro probably around the same sort of power , sometimes less is more , as it’s easy to handle in the driving department , where are people going to get a sc fitted ? the tc on both cars is not great , i think the above comment of pedalling less power harder sounds like a good way to look at things

You don't have to run 600 with a charger, I am not due to the fact I have standard cam, I have actually never measured it, i do also have headers and full wortec exhaust, but from what the fish said when they did mine I reckon to be 500bhp which is perfect for me, having said that i would like to try 600 bhp.

Supercharging is simply the best mod I have ever done on any car I have ever owned, in my opinion it totally transforms the Monaro and LS2 engine and is very compliant if you want it to be.
Am surprised the above owner found it too much that car must be an animal! Never read or heard someone complain about 600 being too much on a Monaro.

[vxr2010]

i have a 04 cv8 with the focus pack and 3.9 diff , so it’s starts with 333 bhp , focus pack plus 100 bhp then the diff they say it’s worth 50 bhp , at surrey rr 321 at the wheels , in the dry i would like more power , in the wet , ( which as above i avoid the wet as have a 4 wheel drive plus i want to rust wise preserve my cars ) then i would not want any more power in a car with not great tc , the maloo 390 at the wheels again dry i would like more , wet i would not , i think that the ute’s are probably more tail happy than an equal r8 even if there is not a lot in weight difference , i think it’s around 100 or so kg lighter , i want more power but not too much to compromise the drive

[SturdyHSV]

Personally I like a car to have more power than tyre, I've always had the TC turned off as I'd rather get a feel for the limits myself so I can better avoid / exceed them as I wish, than to rely on the TC. The odd time I've forgotten to turn it off, in the Monaro at least it's an extremely blunt instrument that just cuts power. In the VE the ESP it has is a lot more sophisticated from what I've seen but again it's still just habit to turn it off, I don't want to miss the opportunity for a bit of fun because the ESP is on.

On the subject of power, I imagine my Monaro was up to around 500hp or so (228/231 cam and everything else) and it was pretty much spot on for my tastes once the rear tyres were worn out, but I don't want to have to drive around on worn out rears all the time I'm aiming for 600hp with my NA build, so we shall see how it ends up.

Realistically I want it to be able to overwhelm 2nd gear at will on decent warm tyres, and ideally 3rd gear only just maintaining traction if conditions are perfect. But then I am a simpleton, wheelspin and the car moving about is what entertains me.

If you want a more sophisticated and balanced vehicle I'd imagine 500 ish is a very sensible upper target considering BMW put larger rear tyres on a 320d...

Interestingly, the similar age Utes aren't any lighter than the Monaros, the rear suspension is beefed up a bit and the wheelbase / body is appreciably longer, so I don't think the end weight is much different.

VE saloon vs Ute I'm not sure weight wise, I think they're the same wheelbase so the Utes might be lighter?

[bonesxu1]

SturdyHSV said:

Personally I like a car to have more power than tyre, I've always had the TC turned off as I'd rather get a feel for the limits myself so I can better avoid / exceed them as I wish, than to rely on the TC. The odd time I've forgotten to turn it off, in the Monaro at least it's an extremely blunt instrument that just cuts power. In the VE the ESP it has is a lot more sophisticated from what I've seen but again it's still just habit to turn it off, I don't want to miss the opportunity for a bit of fun because the ESP is on.

On the subject of power, I imagine my Monaro was up to around 500hp or so (228/231 cam and everything else) and it was pretty much spot on for my tastes once the rear tyres were worn out, but I don't want to have to drive around on worn out rears all the time I'm aiming for 600hp with my NA build, so we shall see how it ends up.

Realistically I want it to be able to overwhelm 2nd gear at will on decent warm tyres, and ideally 3rd gear only just maintaining traction if conditions are perfect. But then I am a simpleton, wheelspin and the car moving about is what entertains me.

If you want a more sophisticated and balanced vehicle I'd imagine 500 ish is a very sensible upper target considering BMW put larger rear tyres on a 320d...

Interestingly, the similar age Utes aren't any lighter than the Monaros, the rear suspension is beefed up a bit and the wheelbase / body is appreciably longer, so I don't think the end weight is much different.

VE saloon vs Ute I'm not sure weight wise, I think they're the same wheelbase so the Utes might be lighter?

TC what is that? never seen such a button in the VY

Edited by bonesxu1 on Wednesday 23 March 18:15

[91964]

Hey it’s all good guys. I’m sure everyone has their ideal power level. all I know is that having driven my 450bhp Ute next to the 650bhp Monaro I just preferred the lesser of the two. I could ramble on and on trying to pinpoint the reasons why but i wouldn’t expect it convince anyone else.

[vxr2010]

i’m pretty sure a standard ve2 ute v a ve2 maloo then the maloo is slightly heavier but not by much , the ve2 maloo is around 100 or so kg lighter than a ve2 vxr8 saloon